Preacherman
Member
Remember that some months ago, the State Department issued a warning to Americans not to visit Nuevo Laredo and similar places, because of the level of crime and drug-related violence? Mexico protested vehemently, and all the border tourist authorities were angry. Well, seems like the warning wasn't wrong, after all...
From the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/24/international/americas/24mexico.html):
Drug Violence Paralyzes a City, and Chills the Border
By GINGER THOMPSON
Published: May 24, 2005
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - There was nothing secretive about the death threats against Guadalupe García, a crime reporter here in this busy border city. Her stalkers broadcast their intentions over the police radio.
"You are next, Lupita," a growling voice would blurt into the emergency communications system. "We are coming for you."
They came on the morning of April 5. A young man carrying a backpack and a semiautomatic 9-millimeter handgun ambushed Ms. García after she signed off her morning news show at Estereo 91. He shot her several times in the abdomen on a busy street, in broad daylight.
Ms. García, a wife and mother who was known for her provocative stories that named names of drug runners and their bosses based on her street reporting, fought for 11 days in intensive care before dying of her injuries.
There is a fight on among this country's most ruthless drug organizations for control of Nuevo Laredo, a fast-growing hub of drug smuggling that has been transformed from a tough but orderly border town into a war zone, where violent death has become a fact of life.
Shootouts among armed men in broad daylight and on busy streets - just a short walk from Laredo, Tex. - evoke scenes of the Wild West or, perhaps, Baghdad.
The violence has wreaked havoc across northern Mexico. In a recent week, according to the newspaper El Universal, more than 30 people were killed in drug-related violence, pushing the death toll to a total of some 504 people this year. Among those killed was a legislator from the northern state of Sinaloa and the police chief of Rosarito Beach, a tourist spot just south of Tijuana popular with Americans.
Both men died in a hail of gunfire, the signature of the new organizations - smaller and harder to trace than the old cartels - that run the drug trade today.
Here in Nuevo Laredo, authorities report that more than 55 people have been killed in drug-related violence this year, compared with 68 murders in all of last year. Those numbers, horrifying enough, may understate the case - many people, the police say, are too terrified to report crimes.
Right after Ms. García's killing, some two dozen gunmen wearing ski masks brazenly attacked a police convoy on one of this city's main business strips. No one was killed in the attack, but authorities reported finding more than 500 shell casings and two grenade launchers.
A few days later, a police commander, Juan Antonio Santos, was ambushed and killed outside his home. And several days after that, another police commander, Sergio Montes, was forced off the highway that circles the city, and shot to death.
There have been police chases and gunfights on the bridges that link Nuevo Laredo to Laredo. Diplomats here report that close to 30 Americans have been kidnapped and killed during the past year, and F.B.I. agents say drug traffickers here have been linked to killings as far north as Dallas.
Carlos Lauría, of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, compared the impunity to a "terminal cancer."
"Until the Mexican government shows a real willingness to punish people for these crimes," he said, "they will just keep happening."
Unable to beat the cartels, most of this city's poorly armed and poorly trained police officers have joined them. Restaurants, hotels and shopping centers that rely on visitors from the United States have cut workers and hours to try to stay open. And with four reporters killed or missing across the country so far this year, newspapers have stopped doing investigative stories about crime.
"If the Mexican and United States governments cannot combat drug trafficking, what can we do?" Ramón Cantú Deandar, the editor of El Mañana, a local daily, said during an interview in his office. "This is a business worth billions of dollars. Our stories are not going to stop it. But they could get us killed."
Just look at what happened with Ms. García. Her killing sounded alarms as far away as Washington and New York. International press associations and rights groups reported that Mexico had surpassed Colombia as the most dangerous place in the hemisphere to work as a reporter.
The State Department has issued new warnings to American travelers about Mexico's "deteriorating security situation."
The government of the Mexican president, Vicente Fox, expressed outrage at the killing, but promised it was winning the fight against drug trafficking.
Soon after Ms. García was shot, federal authorities took over the investigation into the attack. Weeks later, no one had been arrested. Few people here believe anyone ever will be.
Mexican officials, including Mr. Fox, say they are doing a better job than their predecessors. A former chief of security for the municipal government, speaking on the condition that he not be identified for reasons of security, said the increased violence among the cartels was a good sign, proof that the government was disrupting the illegal trade.
Even United States drug authorities say there is something to that. The government has imprisoned many of the country's drug barons. But far from stopping the trade that has simply touched off a series of violent turf wars, and the turf around Nuevo Laredo is seen increasingly by the drug gangs as the best turf to call home.
The United States tightened security along the border after the Sept. 11 attacks, making it harder for the drug organizations to move the merchandise.
There are only a few good routes left and Nuevo Laredo, the largest inland trading center in the hemisphere, is the one of the best routes of all.
"Houston and Miami are yesterday's drug capitals," the former security chief said, adding that now Nuevo Laredo is "the fastest growing distribution center for drugs, and the traffickers are willing to do anything to control it."
From the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/24/international/americas/24mexico.html):
Drug Violence Paralyzes a City, and Chills the Border
By GINGER THOMPSON
Published: May 24, 2005
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - There was nothing secretive about the death threats against Guadalupe García, a crime reporter here in this busy border city. Her stalkers broadcast their intentions over the police radio.
"You are next, Lupita," a growling voice would blurt into the emergency communications system. "We are coming for you."
They came on the morning of April 5. A young man carrying a backpack and a semiautomatic 9-millimeter handgun ambushed Ms. García after she signed off her morning news show at Estereo 91. He shot her several times in the abdomen on a busy street, in broad daylight.
Ms. García, a wife and mother who was known for her provocative stories that named names of drug runners and their bosses based on her street reporting, fought for 11 days in intensive care before dying of her injuries.
There is a fight on among this country's most ruthless drug organizations for control of Nuevo Laredo, a fast-growing hub of drug smuggling that has been transformed from a tough but orderly border town into a war zone, where violent death has become a fact of life.
Shootouts among armed men in broad daylight and on busy streets - just a short walk from Laredo, Tex. - evoke scenes of the Wild West or, perhaps, Baghdad.
The violence has wreaked havoc across northern Mexico. In a recent week, according to the newspaper El Universal, more than 30 people were killed in drug-related violence, pushing the death toll to a total of some 504 people this year. Among those killed was a legislator from the northern state of Sinaloa and the police chief of Rosarito Beach, a tourist spot just south of Tijuana popular with Americans.
Both men died in a hail of gunfire, the signature of the new organizations - smaller and harder to trace than the old cartels - that run the drug trade today.
Here in Nuevo Laredo, authorities report that more than 55 people have been killed in drug-related violence this year, compared with 68 murders in all of last year. Those numbers, horrifying enough, may understate the case - many people, the police say, are too terrified to report crimes.
Right after Ms. García's killing, some two dozen gunmen wearing ski masks brazenly attacked a police convoy on one of this city's main business strips. No one was killed in the attack, but authorities reported finding more than 500 shell casings and two grenade launchers.
A few days later, a police commander, Juan Antonio Santos, was ambushed and killed outside his home. And several days after that, another police commander, Sergio Montes, was forced off the highway that circles the city, and shot to death.
There have been police chases and gunfights on the bridges that link Nuevo Laredo to Laredo. Diplomats here report that close to 30 Americans have been kidnapped and killed during the past year, and F.B.I. agents say drug traffickers here have been linked to killings as far north as Dallas.
Carlos Lauría, of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, compared the impunity to a "terminal cancer."
"Until the Mexican government shows a real willingness to punish people for these crimes," he said, "they will just keep happening."
Unable to beat the cartels, most of this city's poorly armed and poorly trained police officers have joined them. Restaurants, hotels and shopping centers that rely on visitors from the United States have cut workers and hours to try to stay open. And with four reporters killed or missing across the country so far this year, newspapers have stopped doing investigative stories about crime.
"If the Mexican and United States governments cannot combat drug trafficking, what can we do?" Ramón Cantú Deandar, the editor of El Mañana, a local daily, said during an interview in his office. "This is a business worth billions of dollars. Our stories are not going to stop it. But they could get us killed."
Just look at what happened with Ms. García. Her killing sounded alarms as far away as Washington and New York. International press associations and rights groups reported that Mexico had surpassed Colombia as the most dangerous place in the hemisphere to work as a reporter.
The State Department has issued new warnings to American travelers about Mexico's "deteriorating security situation."
The government of the Mexican president, Vicente Fox, expressed outrage at the killing, but promised it was winning the fight against drug trafficking.
Soon after Ms. García was shot, federal authorities took over the investigation into the attack. Weeks later, no one had been arrested. Few people here believe anyone ever will be.
Mexican officials, including Mr. Fox, say they are doing a better job than their predecessors. A former chief of security for the municipal government, speaking on the condition that he not be identified for reasons of security, said the increased violence among the cartels was a good sign, proof that the government was disrupting the illegal trade.
Even United States drug authorities say there is something to that. The government has imprisoned many of the country's drug barons. But far from stopping the trade that has simply touched off a series of violent turf wars, and the turf around Nuevo Laredo is seen increasingly by the drug gangs as the best turf to call home.
The United States tightened security along the border after the Sept. 11 attacks, making it harder for the drug organizations to move the merchandise.
There are only a few good routes left and Nuevo Laredo, the largest inland trading center in the hemisphere, is the one of the best routes of all.
"Houston and Miami are yesterday's drug capitals," the former security chief said, adding that now Nuevo Laredo is "the fastest growing distribution center for drugs, and the traffickers are willing to do anything to control it."
